18 Game of Thrones Season 7 Theories to Read Until the Show Returns

Now that Arya is in the Riverlands paying a visit to the Freys, she's sure to run into her long-lost direwolf, Nymeria, whom she parts ways with in the same area during season one. Nymeria and Ghost are the only Stark direwolves left, so she has to make a comeback . . . right?

Since Maisie Williams's cryptic Instagram post about Melisandre doesn't come true in the season six finale, her character is bound to meet up with the Red Priestess next season. After all, Melisandre is heading south while Arya is (presumably) heading north to Winterfell — it's the perfect setup for them to "meet again."

As Sansa tells Jon Snow during the finale, "Only a fool would trust Littlefinger." And Petyr Baelish already seems poised to ruin Jon and Sansa's happiness at retaking Winterfell, either by convincing Sansa to betray her cousin or by finding his own way to usurp Jon's newfound power — perhaps by making good on his one-time promise to Cersei Lannister that he would take Winterfell for her.

While Bran has already discovered the real story of Jon's history, the Targaryen himself is still in the dark. However, Jon is likely to discover the truth during a visit down to Winterfell's crypts or when he inevitably reunites with Bran.

When Bran is touched by the Night's King during one of his visions, it allows the White Walkers and their horde of undead wights to trespass on ground that was formerly magically protected. Now, as he plans to head south of the Wall, it's likely that he'll ruin the protective enchantments that were built into the massive structure, allowing the Night King's armies to breach the Wall.

Winter is here, which means that Jon, the Wildlings, and his sworn swords will be the first to meet the frozen undead on the battlefield when they breach the Wall. At least his Valyrian steel sword works against White Walkers, right?

The tiny, fiery Lady of House Mormont lays the verbal smackdown on a room full of grown men in the season six finale, forcing them to see the error of their ways and pledge support to Jon Snow. Game of Thrones fans can't get enough of young Lyanna, and as one of Jon's first and fiercest supporters, we think she'll have a larger role in the coming season.

Based on how quickly the plot pacing is moving (and the fact that there are only 13 episodes left of the entire series), Dany will likely arrive in Westeros in early season seven — after a lifetime of waiting, the lost Targaryen heiress will finally make it home.

The new Red Priestess who confers with Tyrion and Varys in season six, Kinvara, is poised to take on the role of Moqorro from the Game of Thrones book series. Moqorro heals a character's doomed arm in the books, which means that Kinvara may very well bump into Jorah and fix his own afflicted extremity.

The last time we see Tyrion in season six, he's heading toward the Seven Kingdoms in Daenerys's fleet and wearing his new Hand of the Queen pin proudly. However, with his sister now sitting on the Iron Throne and his brother (presumably) supporting her, that means that Tyrion will have to face off against his family to fight for the kingdom. Talk about an awkward family reunion!

When Jaime arrives home to King's Landing to find Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne, he looks perplexed at his discovery. Not only does he not have an explanation for Tommen's death, but he also knows that Cersei burned hundreds of her own citizens alive at the Sept of Baelor. Given Jaime's history with murdering mad monarchs, it might be up to him to stop Cersei from becoming an even worse ruler than the Mad King before her.

Cersei has nursed a serious hatred for Septa Unella, who tortured her during that awful imprisonment at the Sept of Baelor. Now that Unella is in Cersei's clutches with no Faith Militant to come and save her, Cersei plans to have a bit of fun for — fun that includes torturing the septa for a very, very long time. We all know that Cersei's former-Maester sidekick, Qyburn, loves performing gruesome medical experiments, so we're sure she'll throw him a bone (or a nun) in season seven.

When Sam arrives at the Citadel, he dons a look of awe when he explores the massive library. He's there to learn, and his number one goal is to find a way to defeat the White Walkers before they wipe out the entirety of Westeros — a task which, we're positive, he will succeed at. Let's just hope he can send a raven to Jon in time for the showdown between him and the Night's King!

Jon and Sansa have already discussed the struggles that will come with ruling the North, including (but not limited to) people who want to kill them, manipulators who would seek to force them apart (Littlefinger), and an oncoming horde of wintery zombies. The pair of cousins (who believe themselves to be siblings) barely knew one another before they teamed up to retake their home, so it's understandable that this list of stresses could add strain to their new relationship.

Now-queen Cersei already blames Sansa for her beloved son Joffrey's death, so when she discovers that Sansa has retaken the Stark family home and proclaimed Jon "King in the North," she won't take kindly to it. She'll definitely have a violent response, either via Littlefinger as a proxy or by sending her own armies to fight the northern bannermen.

It won't take long for word to travel about Jon and Sansa retaking Winterfell, which means that Arya will hear the good news and head home — but how will the Stark siblings (and cousin) even begin to explain what they've been up to? In our heads, it goes a little something like this:

Arya may have left Sandor Clegane for dead, but he's still alive and roaming the Riverlands — the same location where she's been hanging out, serving up revenge to the Freys. It seems likely that Arya will bump into her old frenemy during her travels, but whether she'll be wearing her own face is another question entirely.

Now that Jon has been confirmed as a Targaryen, he is the natural fit to ride one of Dany's three dragons — and according to a popular theory dubbed The Three Heads of the Dragon, the third rider will be Tyrion Lannister. He's already got a bond with Rhaegal and Viserion after unchaining them from their dungeon in Meereen, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched for the Imp to ride one of them into battle during season seven!